


Coming Up For Water

by WhatWldMrsWeasleyDo



Category: Original Work
Genre: Community: smut_fest, Intersex, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Post-Apocalypse, Trans, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:33:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatWldMrsWeasleyDo/pseuds/WhatWldMrsWeasleyDo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a generation the survivors have been living deep underground, but now the water is running out, so a party of half a dozen are sent up through the old escape tunnels to find out what is on the surface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Up For Water

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the post apocalyptic round of lj smut_fest. This is a new departure for me, so I hope I haven't got anything too horribly wrong. I hope that this is what you wanted, nathaniel_hp. Thanks to our hardworking mods and a big thank you to mortenavida for the beta work and enthusiasm. 
> 
> **Pairing:** m/trans*m, (brief background m/f, trans*m/inter*)  
>  **Warnings:** Bigotry. References to radiation sickness and death.  
>  **Content Notes:** Trans* and inter* characters, anal fingering, masturbation, oral sex, public sex.

"Well, I can see why they chose us," Hope was saying just behind him. "We're strong and healthy. We're much more likely to survive whatever's up there than most of the Village. But why did The Councillors make us bring the kids with us?"

"Some of them are only a few months younger than I am," Tou said over his shoulder. He was at the front, crawling through the tunnels with his eyes sharp in the light from the flashlight strapped to his head. He was expecting another blockage soon; they would need to dig their way through again.

"You know what I mean."

He did know what his sister meant.

"Who knows? They might be better adapted than we are. We can't tell what's going to be advantageous until we get up there."

She was quiet for a while, but only a short while. Then: "Do you remember it?"

He thought about that. He'd been brought up on so many stories of Before The Incident, and How It Was On The Surface, that it almost felt as though he did remember. But when he thought about it, all he saw were the pictures from the old books. He'd been carried down here as a baby; he didn't remember. Hope was older than he was, though. "Do you?" he asked.

"A few things. Wavy things which might have been leaves, television, rugs. There was a smell and sometimes I think I've almost conjured it, but then it goes again. My knees are killing me."

"We could stop and raise the ceiling. Do you think we should? We'll lose time. We don't want to run out of water."

"Nah. I'm just bitching." They crawled a little further, a little higher. "This crawling will be tough on Carlos. I know we need to bring someone who'll recognise what's up there but he's _so old_. He'll be lucky to make it back."

"Say that a bit louder why don't you?"

"It's fine. He's right at the back of the line. He can't hear me."

"No, but the kids might. You'll scare them."

" _They're only a few months younger than you are_ remember?"

"Huh."

"How old do you reckon Carlos is? Thirty six, thirty seven?"

"Dunno. I just know he's one of the oldest in the Village. He deserves a bit more respect than you're giving him. He lived through the Incident, the same as we did, and he's survived the twenty years since." He could feel her resentment burning into him. "Anyway, I thought you liked older men?"

"Not that old! Ew! The sores. You're sick, Tou." Hope groaned with frustration."It's so unfair! I finally get a break from being under constant surveillance, and there's nobody here I can take advantage of!" She sighed. "One ancient old man, a bunch of freaks and my brother. I just wanted to have some fun!"

"We're saving the Village. It's an adventure. Is that not enough 'fun' for you, Hope? Sex isn't the only way to enjoy yourself, you know. Anyway, I like playing with the youngsters. You never know what you're going to find when you stick your hand down their pants!"

*X*

_When it finally came, it was the middle of the day. There were five minutes' of panic before the boom and the white and the rising cloud. Thousands were trapped on trains, millions killed running down streets. Cars were abandoned. Finely smashed glass covered corpses clutching telephones. Pylons evaporated. The sun was covered._

_Those who made it down to the cellars and the shelters clutched at each other. Some were with their loved one; most coupled desperately with strangers. By the time they had climaxed, the ceilings were crumbling onto them. They all realised that they needed to go deeper. Skin blistered from the heat seeping from the surface as they dug down. They dug with everything to hand, then pulled the supplies in after them. They dug for as long as they could, and many of the tunnels found each other. Over the months that they fled downwards away from the blast, many of the women became large with child._

_By the time the new children were born, their parents were already dying. Those who survived dug out a space where they could live together and they called it the Village. For almost two decades, death was a constant companion. Many had dragged down the water and tinned food, but few remained to consume it. Nevertheless, the day came when The Councillors who lead the Village, saw that the water was running out._

*X*

Tou and Hope were held up long enough by the next blockage to allow the others to catch up with them. Sky and Artic put down the rucksacks full of the supplies, and set to quietly helping to ease out the rocks. Hope eyed them both suspiciously, reluctant to accidentally touch them as they worked close together. Sky was clearly just as keen to keep away from her.

Artic positioned himself close to Tou. His arms were bare, with a smooth, brown skin over the curves of muscles. Tou had spent silent hours in his company in the Village – along with others who lifted the rubble bags for exercise. Artic caught Tou eying up his arms and he smiled at him. Tou smiled back. He was just about to say something, when Leaf crawled up to them.

"Carlos is exhausted," he said. "We're going to have to stop for today. I just came to make sure you guys weren't going to rush any further up without us."

"We're hardly rushing—" Hope began.

"Do you want a hand getting him up here?" Artic asked. Tou hoped not. He liked having Artic next to him.

"He's slow and steady; we'll be ok, but thanks." Leaf turned to go back.

Hope exhaled loudly. "Look, if it's just a matter of crawling with the old man, then I could do with a rest. I've been shifting debris all day off and on. It's about time you used your puny little girl arms!"

Leaf glared at Hope and shifted to the edge of the tunnel to avoid touching her as she passed. "Good luck to Carlos," he muttered.

"At least she'll be prepared to hold him up!" Artic said. "They don't carry The Incident on their skin, you know!"

Sky shuddered. "I never touch anyone or anything that was on the Surface when It happened. I don't want scabs."

Tou wished he was smaller, wished his shoulders were less broad and that he could duck out of sight.

Artic shot Sky a look. "Don't. It's bad enough. But not in front of Tou."

"Oh, I know you'd touch him alright." Sky grinned playfully. Then he pulled a face of disgust. "I just hope you don't catch it."

At least a dozen emotions churned inside Tou. He turned his face to the rocks to hide his blush and his expression. Nobody said anything for a few minutes. Tou wished he was brave enough to look at Artic's face, to see his reaction, but he wasn't.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Sky snorted eventually.

Tou turned, to find that Sky was addressing Leaf, who was staring at his own arms.

"They're not girl arms! You're not a girl so how can they be? Don't let her get to you," Sky continued.

Leaf's face turned a deep red, whether from anger or embarrassment, Tou couldn't tell. Perhaps a mixture.

"At least I know what I am!" Leaf spat out.

Sky didn't seem bothered by this response. "Gender's an outmoded idea. It belonged to Before. The Incident exploded it along with everything else. I'm proud to be both and neither and everything. I'm the future. You're just jealous because you're so keen to be a boy, but—"

"Don't!" Tou said, and found that Artic was saying, "Sky!" in a tone of alarm at the same time.

Sky looked mortified and Leaf looked devastated. Sky reached out to placate him, but Leaf flinched.

"I'm so sorry," Sky said. "I can't believe I –"

"Shows what you really think about me." Leaf looked down. "I shouldn't have to keep defending who I am—"

"No, you shouldn't. You don't! I'm just scared, Leaf. I'm so scared." Sky grasped Leaf by the shoulders and hugged him. This time the gesture was accepted.

Sky had finally voiced what they had all been feeling. Artic looked into Tou's face, as though searching for fear there as well. Tou closed his eyes in the hope that Artic wouldn't find it.

*X*

By the time Hope had dragged Carlos up the tunnel to them, they had cleared the debris. Just as they had done on the last two nights, they made a fire and put down blankets to sleep close to it. Carlos had the blanket closest to the fire. It was Tou's turn to light it and for the first time in his life the flame on the match that he lit flickered slightly. He tried to remember what that meant as he held it up.

"Air," Carlos said. "A draught, a breeze. We must be close. Tomorrow we will outside. What is our plan?"

Tou tried to drop his gaze and the match to the cardboard quickly enough to hide his face, but he caught the quickly hidden fear on Artic's face as he did so, and he was afraid that Artic caught the same on his. Sky had been tense enough before, but now Tou could feel it from several feet away.

Hope took an audible breath before she spoke, and when she did, her voice wavered. "You tell us, Carlos. Find water and check things out, that's all we've been told. Where do we look for water?"

"How do we know if it's still contaminated?" Leaf asked quietly.

"It depends," Carlos muttered. "Depends where we come out and how it is. There were taps, faucets once. I don't know. I don't know. I remember the sea. It was a long way from where I lived. I saw a river evaporate."

"It'll be fine," Tou found himself saying. "We'll know what to do when we get there. All will become clear. There's nothing to worry about. We don't have anything to lose."

"We have everything to lose!" Hope protested. 

"No," Artic said. "What he means is that without water there will be nothing, nobody. Going out there tomorrow isn't even taking a risk. Is it? If we don't—"

Then they would all die of thirst and so would everyone else in the Village; he didn't have to finish the sentence.

"I'm going to see if I can find where that air is coming from," Tou said, decisively. "I'll go further up the tunnel and scout it out."

"Eat first," said Sky, taking out the tinned provisions from the rucksack.

Tou was glad; he wasn't yet as brave as he hoped he sounded.

The tunnel was only wide enough for them to sit two abreast. Hope sat with Carlos and helped him when his blistered fingers had trouble with the spoon. She could not have missed the admiring looks with which he swept her body, but she didn't seem to mind them; in fact she had always enjoyed being admired and maybe she wasn't finding him as repellent as she had said she did. His head drooped, and she removed the weight of the light from it and laid that down beside them.

On the other side of the fire were Sky and Leaf, once again the best of friends. Tou settled beyond them, at the head of the party, closest to their destination and furthest from the Village. He watched Artic pouring out the water rations and climbing carefully between everyone's feet to hand them out. He started with Carlos. It looked as though he was going to get to Tou last, and Tou hoped. He found that he had held his breath, waiting to see where Artic was going to choose to sit.

Artic stepped over the space between Leaf and Sky, moving further away from the fire's warmth, and he looked into Tou's eyes as he slid down the wall of the tunnel to sit beside him. Their knees touched. Tou couldn't breathe, couldn't even return Artic's smile. He took the water Artic offered and he gulped it down to ease the new dryness of his mouth, and to give him a sensation to focus on, which was not warmth and flesh and Artic.

When they had eaten, Leaf handed out the blankets, then he and Sky switched off their flashlights and lay down side by side, feet by the fire, which involved Artic and Tou shuffling back to give them enough space to do that. The flames played over the two friends' faces. Sky cast anxious glances at Leaf, who kept his eyes closed. Then Leaf rolled onto his side, throwing his arm over Sky's shoulder as he did so. Sky's eyelids closed then. Sky smiled a light smile and relaxed.

On the other side of the fire, Carlos lay with his front curled towards it. When he first lay down it started off a coughing fit. It was so familiar from night time in the Village, that it acted as a lullaby. Hope watched Carlos until the coughing had stopped, and then she switched off her flashlight and lay down behind him, as protective as a mother.

Tou watched the rest of the team settle, stealing regular glances at Artic, wondering whether he was going to lie down, too. Artic sat and waited with Tou instead. When the others were asleep and the fire was dying down, he leaned towards Tou and whispered, "We going to find out where the breeze is coming from, then?"

Tou's heartbeat had increased when Artic had moved towards him, but now it skipped through fear. He was regretting that suggestion. But then Artic took his hand and all thought stopped.

They crawled together for a while. It was difficult to do with only one hand and two knees on the ground, but it was worth it. Neither of them made a move to unlink their hands. They both looked back regularly as the light of the fire grew fainter. Eventually it was out of sight. They took a minute to stare at each other before continuing. 

The tunnel got taller, until they could crouch instead of crawling, which made holding hands easier. After a few steps, the ground beneath them became harder. They stopped. Artic bent down to touch the tunnel floor. It was gritty and pale. After a few more steps the substance became less gritty and more like a smooth, hard, continuous surface.

Artic pulled Tou down to sit beside him. They both ran their free hand over the surface. Tou noticed goosebumps raising the hairs on Artic's arm and realised that he was chilled too. He pulled his matchbox out of his pocket and lit one, holding the flame above them. The flicker was unmistakeable. 

They walked on a little further until man-made solidity surrounded them and the tunnel was tall enough to stand in. They both stopped. Tou looked to Artic, but found that the other man was squinting into the distance. Suddenly Artic switched off his head flashlight, and then – suddenly – Tou's as well. They looked up.

Tou blinked against the darkness, listening to Artic's breath. Light shone in on them, only a small amount as though it came in through a small hole, but unmistakably light.

"Shall we… do you want to…?" Tou whispered.

Artic stiffened. "No. Tomorrow will be soon enough."

"Together," Tou said into the darkness. The word echoed back to him from the walls which he guessed, from the books in the Village, were made of concrete. "All six of us," he clarified.

Artic turned the flashlights back on, but he didn't look at Tou for a while. They switched hands and turned back into the tunnel, taking the few steps back onto the more familiar soil floor. There they sat, facing each other, leaning against the tunnel walls. They looked at each other.

"What do you want to do with it?" Artic asked. "With this night?"

They both knew he meant this night which might well be their last alive. Nobody knew what was out there now.

Tou reached across to place his palm on Artic's strong, stubbled jaw. He rubbed his hand up and down it, relishing the burn. Artic closed his eyes and for a moment Tou didn't know what that meant, but then Artic released a soft noise of contentment. Tou leaned forward and kissed Artic's lips softly, tentatively. Artic responded by opening his mouth and deepening the contact.

They shuffled closer together as they kissed, hands stroking chests and arms and thighs. Tou leaned back, pulling Artic with him, lying with his back on the soft, crumbling soil which leaked into the gap between his sweatpants and his shirt. Artic gripped him under the shoulder, lifting him off the ground and for a moment Tou regretted, but he soon realised that Artic wasn't questioning their relative positions, he was dragging off Tou's shirt. When he was topless, Tou was laid back down on the ground. 

They squirmed together, writhing, twisting, losing all sense of direction with eyes closed. Their hairy, sweaty, hard-muscled chests slid against each other, tongues pressing against teeth and lips, hands grasping, clenching, stroking. Artic pulled away, looking down at Tou with darkened eyes and a determined expression. He pulled the head-flashlight off Tou and placed it beside them, over-illuminating their skin, and creating shadows of every dip and curve. He stared at Tou as he removed his own flashlight and turned it off before dropping it to the ground. Then his head dipped and he lathed his tongue over Tou's skin, dipped it into his belly button and along the softer, hairless belly skin.

Tou ran his fingers through Artic's short hair and heard his own moan against the soil walls, and further off echoing against the solidity of the concrete. Artic was between his legs, tugging down his waistband. Tou lifted his hips to help him, shifting his knee between Artic's legs where it was wet and flat. Artic rubbed himself against Tou's knee, humping as he opened his mouth wide and took in most of Tou's cock.

Redness filled with flashes of white behind Tou's eyelids. His cock was engulfed in wet heat, Artic's tongue flicked against his aching shaft, his hands were running all over Artic's head and face, chafing against the scruff; the wet heat between Artic's thighs rubbed his naked knee through Artic's sweatpants. 

Tou raised his other leg to hook the foot into Artic's waistband and he pushed the fabric down. Artic's tight butt muscles contracted against his foot. His hips jerked back and forth as his head bobbed up and down. Tou used both feet in a series of unco-ordinated movements, most of his mind lost in the rhythm on his cock, to shove the fabric down as far as Artic's darkly haired thighs.

He insinuated his legs between Artic's and Artic rode his shins, wet flaps of skin opening against him, making Artic moan. That made Tou thrust up into Artic's mouth.

Artic pulled off Tou's cock. The air was cold on his wet skin, and the loss of warm suction was awful. Tou grunted with frustration, and thrust into the air. Artic chuckled as he got his broad shoulders under Tou's knees and lifted them up, pushed them forward. The skin of Tou's lower back stretched. His own knees and Artic's shoulders hovered just above his pectorals, the position stretching at the skin between his buttocks which was now exposed. Artic stretched them both just a little more, until Tou's skin burned and their lips met briefly. Then he eased back and shoved a finger into Tou's mouth. Tou closed his eyes and sucked on it. He thrust his hips the tiny amount he could to try to maintain some friction on his cock which was trapped between their two bodies.

Artic pulled the finger out of Tou's mouth, and after a little shove and manoeuvre and adjustment, Tou felt it between his buttocks. Artic's finger rubbed wetly at his arse hole and Tou's deep groan echoed off the concrete again. The finger pushed in and Tou's breath caught, he held it until Artic's finger was through the ring of muscle and was pushing in and out, before letting it out in a deep moan. Artic's chest vibrated against his own as he chuckled again.

Tou clutched at whatever parts of Artic he could reach, a thigh – heated and slippery with sweat – and the edge of his chest. He opened his eyes briefly to see the harsh, white light reflected off his own foot and Artic's buttock. He sank back into his own pleasure. The pressure, number and speed of fingers inside him increased.

The movement faltered only once, as Artic shifted and then moaned. His arm was between their bodies against the crease of Tou's thigh. Tou realised that he must be using one hand on Tou and the other on himself. Their rhythms were almost identical. Tou was being pushed along the dirt with each thrust. Then Artic's fingers hit his prostate and he stopped thinking or noticing anything at all.

It was almost too much; it was like drowning. Again and again, Artic hit the magic place inside him and Tou's body coiled and writhed. He was so close. He let go of Artic's ribs, where he had been digging his nails in, and shoved that hand between their two bodies to reach his own cock. He wrapped his hand awkwardly round it as Artic continued to thrust into him with his fingers, and to pant on him with hot breaths. The heat was rising, the tension was unbearable, then with two quick pulls Tou was coming.

When he could breathe and almost think again, Tou opened his eyes. Artic was kneeling up over him, watching him, with his hand moving rapidly over his groin and his breathing shallow. Tou looked into Artic's dilated pupils. Artic howled, body spasming, skin flushing. Tou watched his intense joy with something like a spiritual awe joining his post-coital haze. Then Artic's knees gave way and he sprawled over Tou's chest.

They lay there just breathing, because that was work enough for now. Tou was warm under Artic, but after a few minutes, he stroked down Artic's back and found it was chilled. He kissed the grizzled cheek which was all he could reach by just turning his head. 

"Who cares what's out there, eh?" Artic mumbled into Tou's shoulder. "Tomorrow will be fine."

Tou had been thinking about that, too, had been trying not to. "Tomorrow night," he said – although it seemed to be light out there while they rested so who knew what time of day it would be or which time was real anymore? "Tomorrow night, we'll do this again. Right?"

"Right," Artic stated, his firm tone an assurance that they would both survive the next twenty-four hours and that they would want to be together again.

They dressed and kissed for a while. When they got back to it, they saw that the fire was nearly out. By its last glow, they made out movements. When their footsteps had stopped echoing, they heard gentle whimpers and grunts. They approached carefully, their eyes on the two shapes, one either side of the fire. 

It was Leaf who was lying on top of Sky. Their mouths were locked together, their arses bared as their sweatpants had been shoved down to their knees. Sky's cock left a wet trail against Leaf's belly. Leaf's hand was buried inside Sky's cunt. 

On the other side of the fire, Carlos' back was bare. It was crossed with silver scars which caught the last of the firelight. Hope's hair was visible beyond Carlos, moving over his shoulder. She was focussed on his skin; she looked to be kissing it. There were pitted silver dents on his shoulder blade, probably where sores had been and had healed. Hope's fingers ran over them, her body raised itself as her mouth moved towards them, revealing that her shoulder was bare.

Tou jolted with the realisation that his sister might be naked; he didn't want to see that. He shouldn't be watching this at all. He grasped Artic's shoulders to bury his face in his chest. Artic pulled them both to the ground, his chest rumbling with a silent chuckle. Their arms around each other, they fell asleep.

The next morning, over a breakfast of porridge made with the last of the water, they told the others what they had found and saw their faces freeze in a shock which they quickly overcame. Nobody mentioned the fear and they did not speak of the couplings of the previous night.

They doused the fire with soil, lifted the light provision packs and walked towards the concrete, the draught of air and the chink of light, prepared to face whatever was beyond that.


End file.
